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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Lady Poppins hit 100 sales in the shop. Small beans to some people, but for me this feels amazing. I was so excited to hit my tenth sale and every number after. Thank you to all of you that are making this happen!

Go over to my facebook page and like Lady Poppins, comment under the most current photo that says there is a giveaway and on Wednesday I will announce the winner having used the random number generator. So easy. You don't have to share, tweet, instagram--anything!! Just comment :)

Monday, November 18, 2013

Imagine a town where you must be 55+ to live there. Golf carts are permitted to roam the streets alongside cars, a shoe shine shop still exists, an organist plays in the local restaurant, people still wear pastel polyester pants, and women go to the hair salon to get their hair set.

That is the town where my grandma lives.

In fact, it is less than ten minutes from me in Southern California.

As described by Wikipedia:

Sun City is a master-planned community for senior citizens over age 55. The four-square mile residential community has two public golf courses, two recreation centers with tennis courts and swimming pools, and a commercial center of small shops for resident consumers.Originally built in 1960, it was one of four "Sun Cities" designed by Del Webb who later created retirement communities in Arizona, Nevada and Florida in the 1970s and '80s. The Del Webb company opened Sun City Palm Desert, California east of Palm Springs in 1991.

My husband is really the one I should be interviewing to talk about it. In the 1980s they built a little subdivision adjacent to Sun City and that is where his father bought a house and where he grew up. He knows every street thanks to his childhood years of exploring on a bicycle. My grandma didn't move there until the late 90s and even then it felt like you were in a different land. It still does!

Although they are not considered their own city now that Menifee became incorporated, we still call it Sun City. In its main shopping center they hold the best library in our area and the only nearby McDonald's, so of course we frequent it often!

After a library trip one day, I drove around and snapped some photos of the AWESOME houses. This is from only going down a few streets. Can you imagine if I had my nice camera instead of my cell phone? Or if I had a whole day to explore?

In this little city rock lawns are normal. It's more surprising if you find a house that features grass. I can't blame them though! If my husband didn't mow the lawn I would want a rock garden.

A lot of times they will be lined with the scalloped brick. Cute additions like the fake well aren't unusual either.

Fruit trees in the front and/or back (my Grammy has a persimmon tree and grape tomato plants).

Cacti are perfect plants for our sunny and dry weather.

Garages usually only have room for one car. If there is no garage, there is a car port.

Potted, hanging plants adorn porches.

This one has a cute little weather vane added to the top and the rocks were painted green.

Little statues parade across the rocks.

Now what do you do when you want a lush, green lawn but don't want the maintenance that comes with it? Simple!

Astroturf.

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Did you always dream of a little pink house? Here you can easily find one!

A rarity: grass.

Not so rare: pink flamingos.

I think this is a great example of a Sun City house: rock lawn, potted plants, sculptures, hanging doo dads, and a golf cart. There is a golf course that runs through the city.

But be warned: there are a lot of senior citizens behind the wheel. And worse: the town center is so wacky!! One way streets, random intersections with no signs, single lane alleys. You have to be on high alert when you drive there!

The citizens are also very concerned about young folks driving too fast. These beauties are stationed around the town to ensure the safety for all. Once my husband was driving us down a street and there was a man sitting on a bench holding a megaphone yelling that he was going too fast. I agreed with man. But I love that he decided to be proactive about people like my fast-paced husband.

And on some streets there are even rounded curbs. No more tire marks on the sidewalk!

But I saved the BEST homes for last!

The statue and fake flower garden.

And the famous Raiders house.

From a younger person's perspective this place seems otherworldly, but heck, when I get old I wouldn't mind living here. I want a pink house and for there to be no noise after 6pm. My kids and I love to visit. Their Great Grandma lives there. The library is the nicest out of all the local cities. Old ladies always delight in seeing my children and offer them candy while simultaneously telling them not to take candy from strangers. The estate sales are pretty cool. You want vintage? Come here! Although, usually the items have not stopped being used for the last 50 years.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

I saw this little cardboard house box being clearanced at Michael's and thought it would be cute to paint one up for my daughter. She is a little collector, akin to Ariel's hoarding obsession. To be fair, it runs on my side of the family. I have a bit of it myself.

Anyway, I started out with this cute little house:

I started to paint the top and then I stopped because I realized I needed a before picture.

Then I sketched out a rough idea of what I wanted it to look like.

Then I gathered my old fashioned clothespins (estate sale, oh yeah!).

And while I sat and painted, my children ran amuck. But I didn't care because I was listening to new episodes on Hulu while I worked.

It turned out pretty cute. There is the brother Ethyn, Daddy, Mommy, Clara, Grammy, and PapPap dolls in this picture. She misplaced brother Calvin and PopPop dolls already.

Here is what I learned:

This is perfect for a three year old. Or at least mine. She likes tiny things, collections, dolls, and boxes. This encompasses all of her favorites!

Next time I will paint on something more sturdy. Cardboard will not last long.

The clothespin dolls look super cute going the other direction so you can make the split wood look like legs, but if you do it MY way they will stand on the edge of things. In this case, the house!

I am going to mod podge the dolls because after a couple weeks they are starting to look worn. That's okay, though. I made them really simple on purpose because I knew she would be handling them a lot and they would not look brand new for long.

Overall, a fun project to make and a great gift to give to a little girl!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Today, Monday, October 21, 2013 and for a two days after you will be able to buy two of my art prints at Storefront Deals.

It is an awesome new site and this is how they describe themselves:

We team up with top notch sellers to bring you quality items at a low price. We love handmade and small businesses and we work to promote their awesomeness. Deals only last 2-3 days, so get it before it's gone!

I have seen a couple other sites like this where they feature daily deals, but what I love about Storefront Deals is that it promotes small businesses! How wonderful for all of us on Etsy and working from home.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I can't blame it all in him though. Because when things became frustrating, I looked back through time to when he was a BABY. Not even a year old and he was trying to HOLD IT IN. I can still see my little guy holding on to the couch (he was in that I-can't-walk-yet-but-I'll-hold-the-edge-of-the-couch-phase), crossing his legs, and his face would turn red. We all figured he was going.

NO. He was holding it IN.

At 2 we dabbled with the idea of potty training. At 3 we committed. At 4 I was so frustrated I would cry.

"Oh, boys take a lot longer than girls," they would say.

"As long as he can go by Kindergarten, there's no need to worry," others would say.

And "No one will remember this when he is 16."

Well, first off, your kids were potty trained by 2. Thanks for pretending not to judge me.
Second, I am worrying. This kid might be the only kid that will have potty issues in Kindergarten.
Third, I will.

Well, now that he is 5, I am happy to report THIS TOO SHALL PASS. If any of you moms are in the same boat I was, I am SO SORRY. I could cry for you just thinking about it.

It really was horrible. First there was the feeling that I was being judged for the shortcomings of my child. Maybe this was all MY fault. Was I feeding him the wrong things? Maybe. But kids are picky. Sometimes you just want them to eat, so you make it easy for you and them. There was the nice coaxing, the pleading, crying, yelling, apologies, threats, rewards, crazy rewards, potty movies, potty books, google searching, and doctor visits.

Finally we found the right mix. We used Miralax, but that was messy. So that came in MUCH smaller doses. Then came my friend's suggestion to use a homeopathic remedy (we diagnosed him using a homeopathic website and gave him Hyland's dissolving tablets as directed---for his symptoms he needed Silicea 6x). If you are looking for a remedy this site has a section to help you.

And I think between the two things a miracle occurred!

He had just turned 4 when all of a sudden, we were a happy family again. I cannot begin to tell you how much stress this put on my relationship with my son and me. I hope he never remembers how hard that was for the two of us. But we made it.

Please tell me I am not alone in that battle?

Anyway, I am sorry for the long post if you were looking to head straight to my top potty tip.

Here it is:

Put a panty liner in the rear end of your child's underwear.

I thought I might be a genius when I discovered this. Someone most likely thought of it before me, but I had never heard it suggested nor had I seen it pinned on Pinterest. So this is revolutionary.

If your child has "accidents" I'm sure you hate to clean them as much as I did...

When you put the panty liner on, say they do go. Welp, the fabric in the prime target area has been protected! You just rip it off, dispose of the mess, and then the underwear can go in the laundry!!

So that's all I've got. There's a million "How to Potty Train Your Kid in a Weekend" tutorials, but those never worked for me.

So this is for all you other gals and pals :)

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Afterthought:
I just might have to delete the "details" soon since this is the internet and nothing is worse than Mommy blabbing your secrets. But for now, I hope it really does help someone else!